Susie Lange (916) 657-3027 REL#91-41 William L. Rukeyser FAX (916) 657-5101 12/18/91 "CHANNEL ONE" FIGHT MOVES TO CALIFORNIA COURT--PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION SOUGHT TO KEEP CLASS TIME JUST FOR LEARNING SACRAMENTO--The two-year fight to prevent a Tennessee company from misusing school time has moved from the California State Capitol to the state courts. California Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig and the California Congress of Parents, Teachers, and Students, Inc. (PTA), joined by two individual teachers, have asked the Superior Court in San Jose for a preliminary injunction against East Side Union High School District of San Jose and Whittle Communications Limited Partnership. The suit is aimed at the sale of school time by the district to Whittle. Whittle is the developer of "Channel One" a pioneer in insinuating advertising into the schoolhouse. "Channel One" is the glitzy, fast-paced show that has brought ads for Snickers and Gatorade into classrooms around the country. Whittle resells class time to advertisers for $150,000 per 30-second spot. (There are four ads in each twelve-minute "Channel One" show.) In return, the schools are leased video equipment and are required to have students watch the daily program. The total time spent watching Whittle programming (if the twelve-minute program is seen every day) adds up to six school days per year. The commercials alone equal a full school day per year. The cost to the taxpayer for only the commercial time equals between $30,000 and $50,000 per year for a school of approximately 2,000 students. "Our students' minds are not for sale," Bill Honig said, in announcing the lawsuit. "We've found that state law and the Constitution don't allow this sort of misuse of school time. As recently as last Thursday the Department of Education and the PTA met with Christopher Whittle and attempted to negotiate this matter. Despite some movement, it is obvious that no compromise is now possible on some fundamental issues. Now it is time to act. I am pleased to be joined by the California PTA, which has been a leader on this issue from the start." Gloria Blackwell, president of the California State PTA added, "Both the national and state PTAs believe this fight has important practical and ethical aspects. Our schools need high tech equipment and our students need to know about the news. However, the schools should not, and do not, have to sell their souls and our children to Whittle Communications. The price Whittle is demanding for 'Channel One', control of a portion of the curriculum and a captive audience, is too high. We believe the courts will take a look at state law and hang out the 'Not Welcome' sign for advertisers who would make a quick buck off California's students." The lawsuit asks for a return to the status quo ante (situation before) in May 1990, before the East Side District agreed that students at Overfelt High School would be subjected to Whittle's advertisers. Under the contract between Whittle and the school district, the school must show every program except one per month. In addition, the shows must be viewed in their entirety and uninterrupted; individual teachers do not have the right to turn off Whittle-supplied TV sets in their classrooms. If the court issues a preliminary injunction, "Channel One" will cease to be shown at Overfelt. Time currently spent watching commercial TV would be returned to an educational activity, as the law demands. The suit raises the following legal issues: o Advertising commercial products is not a purpose for which the public schools were created. o The State Constitution limits the purposes of the public schools, and does not include the promotion of commercial products. o District discretion regarding curriculum is limited by the State Constitution and does not extend to the commercialization of the public schools. o Commercial advertisement does not fulfill any pedagogical concerns. o Forced viewing of commercial advertising distorts the mandatory school attendance requirements. o The imposition of commercial advertising on public school children in return for valuable compensation violates the free school guarantee of the California Constitution and impermissibly imposes a charge prohibited by regulations. o The contract with Whittle violates the public contract laws. o Pupils' constitutional rights will be violated, causing irreparable injury, if the preliminary injunction is not issued. o Free speech rights. o Unlawful confinement. o Teachers' constitutional rights to academic freedom are violated by the Whittle contract. Honig added, "The claim is bound to be raised that this suit is anti-advertising. We do not have anything against advertising; it is part of our economic system. However, the free market works because each of us is free to tune in or switch channels. 'Channel One' attempts to short circuit that system with the unwitting help of the schools. There is no reason for us, at taxpayer expense, to provide Madison Avenue with a captive audience." "CHANNEL ONE" FACT SHEET o Prior to the startup of "Channel One", Whittle Communications had never been in the daily news gathering business. o "Channel One" is broadcast 180 days a year...only when most students are in school. o "Channel One" is a 12 minute show. Two minutes are commercials, approximately two are news and the balance are feature stories (weeks or months old), quizzes, music, hellos, goodbyes and opening and closing sequences. o The total time spent watching Whittle programming (if the twelve-minute program is seen every day) adds up to six school days per year. The commercials alone equal a full school day per year. The cost to the taxpayer for the commercial time equals between $30,000 and $50,000 per year for a school with an enrollment of 2,000. o Schools which contract for "Channel One" must play the entire show over all Whittle-owned TV sets. Teachers may not control the show. o Although Whittle publicity says schools are "given" TVs and VCRs the equipment is, in fact, leased. Payment is made in the form of school time. o In Whittle's own words: "We obviously believe that a student news program without commercials is preferable to one with them." (From a full-page ad in the New York Times 6/8/89) o Whittle's own description of "Channel One" as distributed to potential advertisers in its "'Channel One' Summary Brief" describes "Channel One"'s mission, "Marketing--deliver the single largest reach vehicle [medium of advertisement] against teens 12-17 at a cost-efficient CPM." (CPM is cost per thousand.) o Whittle has paid California lobbyists $640,000 in the last 18 months (LA Times 9/1/91) in an effort to crack California's lucrative market. o New York's State Board of Regents passed regulations in June, 1989 to ban TV commercials under contract from that state's public schools. o Among the groups which oppose "Channel One" are: Consumers Union, American Association of School Administrators, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Action for Children's Television, National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, and the California School Boards Association. o Whittle Communications Limited Partnership is partly owned by Time-Warner. o "Channel One" charges advertisers $150,000 for each thirty second ad. Each advertiser is guaranteed a captive teenage audience and freedom from competitors' messages. Since Mars candy and Nike are on "Channel One", for example, the audience will never hear from Hershey or Reebok. o Whittle Communications pioneered bringing ads into schools. Its mini-billboards, "Connections" and "The Big Picture" already line the hallways of some California schools. This lawsuit is not about keeping all ads out of schools. It is about preventing the piecemeal sell-off of the school day. Print messages do not monopolize class time in the way TV commercials do. The student retains the freedom to read or ignore the ads. That is one reason broadcast advertising is much more lucrative than print. o "Channel One" does not represent the only potential source of TV news for students. Teachers have the right to record and playback portions of over-the-air newscasts if they make that decision for educational, not commercial, reasons. They also have access to CNN's "Newsroom" which is broadcast every school day of the year. "Newsroom" has no commercials, may be viewed in part and in just those classes where it makes the most educational sense. It is also backed up with a four-page teachers guide distributed by electronic mail every morning before school begins. Other cable programers and operators are supporting other services for schools. For more information contact Cable in the Classroom (703) 845-1400 (fax 703-845-1409). o Further reading on this subject: - "$640,000 Paid to Lobbyists by Classroom TV Firm." Los Angeles Times, 9/1/91. - "Fun With One." Advertising Age, 6/3/91 (Creativity Section). - "What is Chris Whittle Teaching Our Kids?" New York Times Magazine, 5/19/91. - "Pupils or Consumers?" The Economist, 5/4/91. - "TV Trouble at North High." Zillions, Consumer Reports for Kids, April/May 1991. - "Who's Watching 'Channel One'? Try New Math." Adweek's Marketing Week, 12/3/90. - "Is Chris Whittle the Devil?" Vanity Fair, March 1990. These studies also, which indicate students believe products advertised in schools have been endorsed by the schools and that the public finds school-based advertising among the most objectionable forms of commercials: - "Tuning in on Current Events." Southeastern Educational Improvement Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 3/15/91. - "To What Extent is the Medium the Message? Reactions to Advertising in Different Locations," Warwick Baker & Fiore (Advertising Agency) New York, April 1991. NATIONAL PRINCIPLES FOR CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT IN THE SCHOOLS School-business relationships based on sound principles can contribute to high quality education. However, compulsory attendance confers on educators an obligation to protect the welfare of their students and the integrity of the learning environment. Therefore, when working together schools and businesses must ensure that educational values are not distorted in the process. Positive school-business relationships should be ethical and structured in accordance with all eight of the following principles: 1. Corporate involvement shall not require students to observe, listen to or read advertising. 2. Selling or providing access to a captive audience in the classroom for commercial purposes is exploitation and a violation of the public trust. 3. Since school property and time are publicly funded, selling or providing free access to advertising on school property outside the classroom involves ethical and legal issues that must be addressed. 4. Corporate involvement must support the goals and objectives of the schools. Curriculum and instruction are within the purview of educators. 5. Programs of corporate involvement must be structured to meet an identified education need, not a commercial motive, and must be evaluated for educational effectiveness by the school/district on an ongoing basis. 6. Schools and educators should hold sponsored and donated materials to the same standards used for the selection and purchase of curriculum materials. 7. Corporate involvement programs should not limit the discretion of schools and teachers in the use of sponsored materials. 8. Sponsor recognition and corporate logos should be for identification rather than commercial purposes. --- Milwaukee Conference on Corporate Involvement in the Schools Contact: William L. Rukeyser Special Assistant to the Superintendent California Department of Education (916) 657-3027 Those groups announcing their endorsement of the Principles are: o Action for Children's Television o American Association of School Administrators o American School Counselor Association o National Association of State Boards of Education o National Council of the Social Studies o National Council of Teachers of English o National Education Association o National PTA Also announcing their endorsement are the following chief state school officers: o Eve M. Bither, Maine o Donald M. Carroll, Jr., Pennsylvania o Wilmer Cody, Louisiana o Bill Honig, California o William Lepley, Iowa o Gene Mammenga, Minnesota o Barbara Stock Neilsen, South Carolina o Eugene T. Paslov, Nevada o Harold Raynolds, Jr., Massachusetts o Werner Rogers, Georgia